Is Ashley Monroe’s ‘Hands on You’ a Hit? Listen and Sound Off!

There's an arthouse quality to the sensual, provocative new song from Ashley Monroe. "Hands on You" defies convention and explores raw sexuality in a way we're simply not used to hearing from women in country music.

It's bold, beautiful and confident, yet the story allows for the vulnerability that Monroe brings to so much of her music. Her greatest regret, she sings, is being too afraid to make the first move. During the chorus, she's tortured emotionally and physically as she retraces her steps and imagines — vividly — what could have been.

"I wish you would have laid your hands on me / And never let me go / Drawing pictures on my skin, in places no one’s ever been / I wish I’d have laid my hands on you," Monroe sings.

The emotional regret is what makes this torrid description so uniquely feminine. The "Like a Rose" singer croons over a mid-to-late 20th-century soul arrangement that finds orchestral patterns weaving through the bridge. Monroe's just-released music video further cements it as a period piece, but the emotions of "Hands on You" are timeless.

Did You Know?: Ashley Monroe co-wrote every song on her upcoming Sparrow album. It drops on April 20.

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Ashley Monroe, "Hands On You" Lyrics:

I wish I would’ve laid my hands on you / Shown you a thing or two / I wish I would’ve pushed you against the wall / Locked the door in a bathroom stall, and the windows in the street / I wish you would have laid your hands on me / That kind gonna bring me to my knees / I wish I’d have let you lay me down / Because I wouldn’t be here wishing now / I wish I would have laid my hands on you.

Chorus:I wish I was still half drunk / Still tangled up, still making love / But instead I’m alone in bed with you in my head / Can’t get you outta my head / And my only regret.

I wish I would’ve laid my hands on you / Got you high in a motel room / A little secret for my soul / No one sees and no one knows / Forbidden company / I wish you would have laid your hands on me / And never let me go / Drawing pictures on my skin, in places no one’s ever been / I wish I’d have laid my hands on you.